Notes and Quotes V2

Sales

1.http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ea-very-happy-with-battlefield-hardline-sales/1100-6427131/

This article talks about how the publishers of the game are pleased with the sales that Battlefield Hardline has gained. This does go against the negative views that the game has since the Battlefield franchise is known for simulating wars.

2. http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Battlefield-Hardline-Bad-Idea-DICE-Said-2011-64729.html

This article talks about how annual releases may harm the reputation that Battlefield may have. This is because competitors such as Call of Duty would have annual releases that harm the creative freedom as there wouldn't be much of a break to introduce a fresh new game for their fans. Over the past, Battlefield had released instalments every 3 years. However, Hardline was released one year later which had fans disappointed as some of them had called it a "reskin" or that "it should've been DLC". Also, the game wasn't a big departure as it had played similarly and the variety of weapons for players to choose from wasn't so different from its predecessor Battlefield 4.

3. http://metro.co.uk/2015/03/23/battlefield-hardline-takes-arresting-lead-in-uk-sales-charts-5116403/

This article talks about the sales that Hardline had in the UK as it had one of the highest sales in March 2015.

Controversy

4. http://www.gamespot.com/articles/battlefield-hardline-how-real-world-police-controv/1100-6425198/

5. http://www.craveonline.com/entertainment/797623-battlefield-hardline-trailerbox-art-causes-controversy-wake-ferguson-shooting/

6. http://kotaku.com/soldier-cops-are-giving-games-like-battlefield-an-image-1620511782

Reviews

7. http://uk.ign.com/articles/2015/03/17/battlefield-hardline-review

8. http://www.trustedreviews.com/battlefield-hardline-review

9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztZDVr3mZzg 

10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEaOBQkh7PI

The first two are reviews done by businesses which have praised the game and have rated it 8/10. However, the third review is from the perspective of a fan named "AngryJoe". He is known for his trustworthy reviews as his reviews are from the perspective of a gamer who understands the values of games to a consumer. The same applies with TotalBiscuit who both share similar opinions on the game. This could dictate those big outlets such as IGN could be paid by EA to give a good review as this aligns with the two-step flow theory.

Any other articles related to Gun Violence

11. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/11/joe-biden-games-companies-gun-control

12. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/12/battlefield-war-game-first-world-war

13. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/24/battlefield-hardline-problem-play-war-cop

“So this is the problem. Battlefield: Hardline is a war game reskinned as a cops-and-robbers fantasy: the criminals are action-movie caricatures (they rob banks by blowing holes in the walls and steal sports cars to joyride around the city) and the cops are equally gung-ho.”

14. http://pss.sagepub.com/content/12/5/353.short

15. http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/44913637/The_costs_of_gun_violence_against_childr20160420-21290-13u4mtc.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ56TQJRTWSMTNPEA&Expires=1476441977&Signature=8P7Ye1OZ5rTeho6%2F602%2Fi3GOrd8%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DThe_costs_of_gun_violence_against_childr.pdf#page=75

“Guns are deeply embedded in American society. Indeed, many people around the world perceive the gun as one of America’s primary cultural icons”

The beginning of this article talks about how iconic guns have become iconic in American culture. However this would talk about the negative impacts that they would have on a younger audience. However younger audiences tend to want content that they aren’t allowed access to. 

“Playing these video games allows young people to practice violence—often gun violence—in ways television does not.”

This quote would also present how gun violence in video games are also seen as bad. I would partially agree with the statement. However I mostly disagree. In my opinion I see it as a form of diversion from real life. This would be because it would immerse the players into the action.

“By the end of the Vietnam War, the military human target hit rate jumped to 95%”

This has talked about how during the time, the military would use simulations that are similar to video games to try and increase their accuracy with firearms. The page had also stated that pilots would also use simulations similar to videogames. As well as that there is also the different sorts of areas that might also look into the different sorts of areas that might also be included.

16. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.547.2832&rep=rep1&type=pdf

“That is, the person playing the game behaves aggressively and is rewarded (with points, sound effects, access to new levels of the game, etc.) for doing so.”

Although this article does look into the violence, this has also looked into how the game would simulate violence from the perspective of the player. They play as the character and go out guns blazing as this would simulate violence. However the acts of gun violence would also look into it as it would also have a positive view on gun violence as it is seen as playful.

17. http://www.csus.edu/faculty/m/fred.molitor/docs/video%20games%20and%20bullying.pdf

This would have key notes that can link into other articles since they have been mentioned 

"Our results suggest that the association between violent

video games and aggression related outcomes in children,

even those with clinically elevated mental health symptoms,

may be minimal. Our research contributes to the field

of youth and media by providing evidence that a timely,

policy-relevant, and seemingly reasonable hypothesis—

that mentally vulnerable children may be particularly

influenced by violent video games—does not appear to be

well supported. However, more research on this population,

and on others likely to be at increased risk (such as

children exposed to violence in their homes or neighborhoods),

is needed to guide parents, health professionals and

policymakers. It may be valuable for future researchers to

consider alternate models of youth’s media use, particularly

those that focus on motivational models in which

users, rather than content, drive experiences. Content-based

theoretical models do not appear to be sufficient for a

sophisticated understanding of media use and effects".

"The tragic 2012 shooting of young children in Newtown, Connecticut by a 20-year-old male reportedly fond of playing violent video games put the issue back on the front burner (Gun Violence Prevention Task Force 2013). The consensus from the government (e.g., Gun Violence Prevention Task Force 2013) seems to have been that current research does not consistently link exposure to video game violence with aggression or societal violence"

"In the current study, we used Entertainment Software

Ratings Board (ESRB) video game ratings as an estimate

of exposure to violence in video games. Respondents were

asked to write the names of five video games that they had

‘‘played a lot’’ in the past 6 months. ESRB ratings were

then obtained for each game, and ordinally coded (a

maximal score of 5 for ‘‘Mature,’’ 4 for ‘‘Teen,’’ etc.). The

sample reported mean was 29.97 and standard deviation

was 30.09."

This looks into the ESRB age ratings and what a gamer would generally play. It appears to have a high average which can suggest that there are a huge majority of players that would play mature content. 

"These theoretical approaches have in common

the value of taking the user experience as a primary driving

factor of the relationship between the user and media,

rather than presuming that content drives the relationship.

In the typical ‘‘hypodermic needle model’’ of media

effects"

18. http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc47.2005/KillBill/text.html

19. https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-magazine/articles/15902 

20. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B0i5diL3vrEiSGxRNHIyZmM4Ums - MM40 Page 16

This looks into the Violence that is presented in video games. 

“Violence which has led to bans and restrictions which would restrict sales”

21. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B0i5diL3vrEiSGxRNHIyZmM4Ums - MM 47 Page 55

This would look into GTA and investigate the marketing that would take in motion. This looks into the teases to the distribution and how they would tease their game. Yearly breaks that would look into how it is teased a year beforehand to generate hype for the videogame so that fans are eager to preorder. 

22. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9752141/Connecticut-school-massacre-Adam-Lanza-spent-hours-playing-Call-Of-Duty.html

23. https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/report-links-violent-media-mental-health-and-guns-to-mass-shootings-021413.html

"The NSF report examines exposure to violent media, including video games, movies, television, apps, music and comic books. Violent video games increase aggressive thoughts and behavior, angry feelings and physiological arousal, and decrease helping behavior and feelings of empathy for others, according to the report". 

24. http://www.thefreeradical.ca/research/Effect_of_video_game_violence.pdf

" Several features of violent video games suggest that they may have even more pronounced eVects on users than violent TV programs and Wlms. Violent video game players are more actively involved, more likely to identify with violent characters, more directly reinforced for violent acts, and more frequently exposed to violent scenes. In the past, the level of realism in video game images might have reduced their ability to create physiological desensitization. But recent technological advances have removed this obstacle from video games. Consequently, desensitization and decreases in helping might well progress more quickly and eYciently in violent video game players than in violent TV/Wlm viewers. Future research should investigate how these diferences between types of entertainment media inXuence desensitization to real violence. Future research also should investigate who is most likely to become desensitized as a result of exposure to violent video games".

This could suggest that the audiences of violent content like video games have become desensitised. This could suggest that they are used to seeing violence and their behaviour to real violence which could also argue how this content could have a negative impact. I would agree that it makes an audience desensitised to violence. 

25. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3709666/So-violent-video-games-child-s-brain-Psychologist-explains-gun-filled-games-make-kids-think-ok-aggressive.html

"For decades, both therapists and researchers have argued that observing violence increases the likelihood of a child being aggressive, whether they observe it at home or school".

From this, I would argue against this comment. Although this comes from research, this would argue that video games are being seen as a possible outcome. As well as that the research suggested that this would also make players look like they are easily manipulated by the audience. I would argue against this because gamers aren't all going to behave in a violent manner after exposure to violent content. If this was the case then video games that are mass advertised shouldn't be presented to the public if they have a negative impact on the audience. This would suggest that the audience of violent video games are like the Hypodermic Needle Syringe as it would suggest that video games have a passive audience that are prone to violence by replicating what has been done.   

26. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bruce_Bartholow/publication/222302681_Chronic_violent_video_game_exposure_and_desensitization_to_violence_Behavioral_and_event-related_brain_potential_data/links/0fcfd512398acc2a17000000.pdf

"Previous research has shown that playing violent video games increases aggressive behaviour and decreases helping behaviour".

"One possible explanation for these effects is that people become desensitized to violence after prolonged exposure to it, leading to reduction of normal inhibitions against aggression and making individuals less responsive to the pain and suffering experienced by victims of violence"

This would also reinforce the idea that video game players would be desensitised to violent content to video games. In this case it would also argue that gamers won’t feel sympathy. This could argue as to how players are used to watching violent content to the extent that they are used to watching violence in video games. This could extend to the point where gruesome content in which the content is displayed for the audience wouldn’t give them an emotional engagement.

27. http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/11/21/are-video-games-actually-desensitizing-us-to-violence/

“The top 5 selling games in the UK in 2013 are further proof that this trend is global, with 4 of the top 5 being from the action and/or shooter genre.(4) Atop that list is the latest instalment from the ever-popular Grand Theft Auto series a franchise synonymous for gratuitous violence, sexuality and mature themes -as evidenced by its M for Mature rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)”.

“A 2011 study out of the University of Missouri-Columbia looked at the long recognized belief held by many scientists that playing violent video games can cause players to become more aggressive in their daily life. The study involved 70 young adult participants who were randomly assigned to play a violent or non-violent video game for 25 minutes. The researchers then measured brain responses as they showed the participants a series of neutral and violent photos. The final stage allowed the participants to compete against an opponent in a controllable task that allowed them to choose how aggressively they would blast their opponent with sound. Researchers found that those who played a violent video game were more aggressive in their blast by comparison to those who played a non-violent game.(5)”

“Another study in the publication Social Psychological and Personality Science, found that aggression triggered by video games can last for up to 24 hours after the game is played -if the player continues to think about the game”

28. http://www.public.iastate.edu/~nscentral/news/06/jul/desensitized.shtml

“When viewing real violence, participants who had played a violent video game experienced skin response measurements significantly lower than those who had played a non-violent video game. The participants in the violent video game group also had lower heart rates while viewing the real-life violence compared to the nonviolent video game group.

"The results demonstrate that playing violent video games, even for just 20 minutes, can cause people to become less physiologically aroused by real violence," said Carnagey. "Participants randomly assigned to play a violent video game had relatively lower heart rates and galvanic skin responses while watching footage of people being beaten, stabbed and shot than did those randomly assigned to play nonviolent video games.

"It appears that individuals who play violent video games habituate or 'get used to' all the violence and eventually become physiologically numb to it."

Participants in the violent versus non-violent games conditions did not differ in heart rate or skin response at the beginning of the study, or immediately after playing their assigned game. However, their physiological reactions to the scenes of real violence did differ significantly, a result of having just played a violent or a non-violent game. The researchers also controlled for trait aggression and preference for violent video games”.

“They conclude that the existing video game rating system, the content of much entertainment media, and the marketing of those media combine to produce "a powerful desensitization intervention on a global level."

"It (marketing of video game media) initially is packaged in ways that are not too threatening, with cute cartoon-like characters, a total absence of blood and gore, and other features that make the overall experience a pleasant one," said Anderson. "That arouses positive emotional reactions that are incongruent with normal negative reactions to violence. Older children consume increasingly threatening and realistic violence, but the increases are gradual and always in a way that is fun.

"In short, the modern entertainment media landscape could accurately be described as an effective systematic violence desensitization tool," he said. "Whether modern societies want this to continue is largely a public policy question, not an exclusively scientific one"

Books

·        Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against Tv, Movie, and Video Game Violence

“And that root cause is the steady diet of violent entertainment our kids see on TV, in movies, and in the video games that they play - as they sit in front of their screens and digital devices for forty hours each week. This amount of continuous exposure to gratious violent images sensationalizing murder, rape, and torture is neither benign nor cathartic. The fact is that media violence primes children to see killing as acceptable”

“It’s abnormal for a civilized society to teach kids to kill people. And it’s certainly not normal for so many kids to want to kill, harm, bully, or hurt others as they do today”.

·        Journal of Experimental Social Psychology - Bruce D. Bartholowa, Craig A. Anderson

Volume 38, Issue 3, May 2002, Pages 283–290

“Evidence of the effects of playing violent video games on subsequent aggression has been mixed. This study examined how playing a violent video game affected levels of aggression displayed in a laboratory. A total of 43 undergraduate students (22 men and 21 women) were randomly assigned to play either a violent (Mortal Kombat) or nonviolent (PGA Tournament Golf) video game for 10 min. Then they competed with a confederate in a reaction time task that allowed for provocation and retaliation. Punishment levels set by participants for their opponents served as the measure of aggression. The results confirmed our hypothesis that playing the violent game would result in more aggression than would playing the nonviolent game. In addition, a Game × Sex interaction showed that this effect was larger for men than for women. Findings are discussed in light of potential differences in aggressive style between men and women”.

“The game was played in two phases. During Phase 1, the participant was informed that before each trial, the opponent would set the duration and intensity of punishment that he or she would receive for responding more slowly. During Phase 2, the roles were reversed; the participant was told that before each trial, he or she could now set the duration and intensity of punishment for the opponent when that person responded more slowly. Note that because the game ended after this phase was completed, the participant could retaliate for the punishment that he or she received from the opponent during Phase 1 without fearing any retaliation by that opponent. The severity of punishment that each participant set for his or her opponent prior to each of the 25 trials during Phase 2 (retaliation) was our measure of aggressive behavior. This and similar measures have been shown to be valid indices of aggression (Giancola & Zeichner, 1995; see also Anderson & Bushman, 1997; Anderson, Lindsay, & Bushman, 1999; Carlson, Marcus-Newhall, & Miller, 1989).”

·        Media Violence and Children: A Complete Guide for Parents and Professionals: A Complete Guide for Parents and Professionals - Douglas A. Gentile

All quotes have been taken from Chapter 7 which focuses on the topic in detail

Page 132

“Recent content analyses Violent Video Games: The Newest Media Violence Hazard 133 of video games show that as many as 89 percent of games contain some violent content (Children Now, 2001), and that about half of the games include violent content toward other game characters that would result in serious injuries or death (Children Now, 2001; Dietz, 1998; Dill, Gentile, Richter, & Dill, 2001). Many children prefer to play violent games. Of course, what constitutes a "violent" game varies depending upon who is classifying them. The video game industry and its ratings board (Entertainment Software Rating Board) claim to see much less violence in their games than do parents (Walsh & Gentile, 2001) and other researchers (Thompson & Haninger, 2001). Even within the research community there is some inconsistency in definition of what constitutes a violent video game. Generally, however, researchers consider as "violent" those games in which the player can harm other characters in the game. In many popular video games, harming other characters is the main activity. It is these games, in which killing occurs at a high rate, that are of most concern to media violence researchers, child advocacy groups, and parents. (See Appendix A for recent recommendations regarding features of violent video games.) In studies of fourth through eighth grade children, more than half of the children state preferences for games in which the main action is predominantly human violence or fantasy violence (Buchman & Funk, 1996; Funk, 1993). In surveys of children and their parents, about two-thirds of children named violent games as their favorites. Only about one-third of parents were able to correctly name their child's favorite game, and in 70 percent of the incorrect matches, children described their favorite game as violent (Funk, Hagan, & Schimming, 1999). A preference for violent games has been linked with hostile attribution biases, increased arguments with teachers, lower self-perceptions of behavioral conduct, and increased physical fights (Bushman & Anderson, 2002; Funk, Buchman, & Germann, 2000; Lynch, Gentile, Olson, & van Brederode, 2001).”

Page 135

“1. Identification with an aggressor increases imitation of the aggressor. It is known from research on violent television that children will imitate aggressive actions more readily if they identify with an aggressive character in some way. On television, it is hard to predict with which characters, if any, a person will identify. One might identify most closely with the victim, in which case the viewer would be less likely to be aggressive after watching. In many violent video games, however, one is required to take the point of view of one particular character. This is most noticeable in "first-person shooter" games, in which the players "see" what their character would see as if they were inside the video game. Thus, the player is forced to identify with a violent character. In fact, in many games, players have a choice of characters to play and can upload photographs of their faces onto their character. This identification with the aggressive character is likely to increase the likelihood of imitating the aggressive acts. 2. Active participation increases learning. Research on learning shows that when one becomes actively involved in something, one learns much more than if one only watches it. This is one reason computer technology in the classroom has been considered to be educationally beneficial. Educational video games are theorized to be effective partly because they require active participation. With regard to violent entertainment, viewers of violent content on television are passive observers of the aggressive acts. In contrast, violent video games by their very nature require active participation in the violent acts. 3. Practicing an entire behavioral sequence is more effective than practicing only a part. If one wanted to learn how to kill someone, one would quickly realize that there are many steps involved. At a minimum, one needs to decide whom to kill, get a weapon, get ammunition, load the weapon, stalk the victim, aim the weapon, and pull the trigger. It is rare for television shows or movies to display all of these steps. Yet, violent video games regularly require players to practice each of these steps repeatedly. This helps teach the necessary steps to commit a successful act of aggression. In fact, some video games are so successful at training whole sequences of aggressive behaviors that the U.S. Army has licensed them to train their forces.”

Page 144

“The evidence reveals that violent video games can have negative consequences. The research literature is presently too small to allow sensitive tests of potential moderator effects (moderator variables can enhance or diminish other effects). Such effects, essentially interactions between exposure to video game violence and moderating variables (e.g., sex, age), require very large samples for adequate tests, and this research literature is simply too small. In fact, Anderson and Bushman (2001) reported finding no statistically significant evidence of sex or age moderator effects. Nonetheless, there are theoretical and empirical reasons to expect some groups to be somewhat more susceptible to violent video game effects than others, though there is no valid reason to expect any particular group to be totally immune. Funk and her colleagues (Funk, 2001, 2003; Funk & Buchman, 1996; Funk, Buchman, & Germann, 2000) have described how many of the effects of video game play could be enhanced by other risk factors. These include player sex, age, status as bullies or victims of bullies, children with poor social problem- 144 Media Violence and Children Figure 7.2 Relation between Year of Study and Size of Effect of Video Game-Playing Habits on Aggressive Behavior: Correlational Studies 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 Effect Size (r) 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 Year y = 0.011x - 21.020 r = 0.738 solving skills, and children with poor emotion regulation abilities. To this list we would add children who are generally more hostile in personality, who have a history of aggressive behavior, or whose parents do not monitor or limit their video game play”.

·        Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do - Lawrence Kutner, Cheryl Olson

Page 8

“It’s unlikely that Harris and Klebold’s interest in violent video games or other violent media played any significant role in their actions. An FBI investigation concluded that Klebold was significantly depressed and suicidal and Harris was a sociopath”

Youth violence decreased significantly over the last decade. You are more likely to be struck and killed by lightning than to di in a school shooting.  

Video game popularity and real world youth violence have been moving in opposite directions. Violent juvenile crime in the US reached a peak in 1993 and has declined ever since. School violence has also gone down.  Between 1994 and 2001, arrests for murder, forcible rape, robbery and Aggravated assaults fell 44% resulting in the lowest juvenile arrest rate for violent crimes. Since 1983. Murder arrests which reached a high of 3,800 in 1993 plummeted to 1,400 by 2001”

“

This can preasent the correlation that violent content and violence in real life would have. This would mainly be because of how video games would offer a form of escapism. This can thereore reinforce the hypodermic needle in the sense that this form of media reflects an alternate way to enjoy violence which could suggest why we should be concerned about the increase in violent graphic content and how poeople have become desensitised. However it does offer its perks in the sense that there are less violent crimes being comitted. This could be because as previosly mentioned that violent content especially videom games would offer an alternate which wouldn’t have as much consequence as real life.

·        The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: A Meta-analytic Review of Positive and Negative Effects of Violent Video Games - Christopher John Ferguson

“At the time that this article is being written the mass-homicide at Virginia Tech University in which Seung Hui Cho killed 32 students and faculty, and wounded many more is but a few months old. Not surprisingly, as with the Columbine shooting in 1999 [1], news media have indulged in speculation that video game playing may be involved in the etiology of C. J. Ferguson (&) Department of Behavioral, Applied Sciences and Criminal Justice, Texas A&M International University, Laredo, TX 78045, USA e-mail: CJFerguson1111@Aol.com 123 Psychiatr Q (2007) 78:309–316 DOI 10.1007/s11126-007-9056-9 this shooting although information about the shooter has thus far not supported a substantial link [2]. It is not hard to ‘‘link’’ video game playing with violent acts if one wishes to do so, as one video game playing prevalence study indicated that 98.7% of adolescents play video games to some degree [3] with boys playing more hours and more violent games than girls”.

“However is it possible that a behavior with such a high base rate (i.e. video game playing) is useful in explaining a behavior with a very low base rate (i.e. school shootings)? Put another way, can an almost universal behavior truly predict a rare behavior? This paper concerns itself with issues related to playing of violent video games. Namely, has the accumulated research evidence provided evidence that exposure to violent video games causes or is otherwise predictive of aggressive behavior? Is it possible also that exposure to violent video games specifically may be associated with positive developments, such as increases in visuospatial cognition? It is the goal of this paper to examine the overall impact of violent video games, positive and negative, in order to help guide the discussion of violent games in relation to aggression, crime and cognitive development. Despite the intensity of the debate, research on the relationship between video game violence and aggression (most studies do not consider violent crime specifically) have produced mixed findings. Some articles find a relationship, either causal or correlational between video game violence and aggression [4–6] whereas others do not [7–9]. Examining one of the most cited studies a bit closer provides some illumination of the ambiguity of this research area. Anderson and Dill [6] claim to offer causal evidence for the video game—aggression link”.